Modi asks PM to hold CMs' meet on food bill

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has written to the Prime Minister opposing certain provisions in the UPA's flagship Food Security Bill, which is being projected as a major vote catcher for the ruling UPA ahead of the 2014 parliamentary polls.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has written to the Prime Minister opposing certain provisions in the UPA's flagship Food Security Bill, which is being projected as a major vote catcher for the ruling UPA ahead of the 2014 parliamentary polls.

In his letter, Modi has demanded that a meeting of all CMs be called to take into account the views the states have on such an important bill. He has also raised issue of federalism saying some provisions in the bill are in violation of the federal structure of the country.

"Chief Minister wants the views of the state and particularly those states which have opposed the bill should be taken into account before going ahead with the bill," a senior official close to Modi said, adding that "CM is against the bill in its current form."

Earlier Gujarat chief secretary Varesh Sinha had also written a letter to the union government regarding "some impractical provisions which will be impossible to implement" in the bill.

Earlier while addressing students in a college in Pune, Modi had flayed the UPA government for rushing with the Food Security ordinance saying, "The government in Delhi thinks that just by bringing in the Food Security Bill, there will be food on your plate. Its all vote bank politics"